You might check some of these out via Google Books: The Best Poems on Christmas Christmas Poems: Selected from Many Sources Christmas Stories and Poems for the Little Ones Christmas with the Poets: A Collection of Songs, Carols and Verses Under the Holly Bough: A Collection of Christmas Poems Christmas: Its Origin, Celebration and Significance As Related in Prose and Verse There's lots of great choices!

I chose to go with SOTW 1 because I pulled my 6th grader out mid-year & they were already studying ancients at the PS he attended. However, it's really up to you on whether or not you start with that or American history. Public schools jump around in social studies all the time, so I don't think it will be bad if you don't continue where he left off in history.

I get sinus infections frequently (and sometimes with a low-grade fever), so the only time I bother to go to the doctor is when my fever is high or I'm feeling really, really miserable. When I've reached my limit, I go. The last time I went (last month, with a fever of 104), they gave me a prescription for Flonase in addition to antibiotics. I'm supposed to use it twice daily, indefinitely, so we'll see if that helps to lessen the frequency of infections.

I just ordered our first Time Travelers CD (Colonial Life) 2 weeks ago and spent last week doing my planning, printing and prep work. You do get a CD to print from and boy oh boy is there A LOT of printing. Seriously. It took me two pretty full days to get it all done - including a trip to the store to buy way more cardstock and transparency film. That said, the printed product is absolutely beautiful and I cannot wait to see the finished results (their notebooks & lapbooks) - they'll be incredible, I'm sure. I've never seen another product come anywhere close to the quality of Time Travelers. I should back up and say that the program is incredibly flexible. You can obviously print whatever you want and do the reading or skip the reading if you're using other books. Really, you can use it any way you choose. I plan on doing everything over roughly a 12 week period, hence the amount of printing I had to do. Already though, I'm so in love with the program that I've planned the rest of our American History around it, doing 2 CD's per year.

You might check out the book lists here: Serendipity: Literature for the Young Lady, oh and here's an overview of the (free) complete curriculum if you're interested: Literature for the Young Lady is a curriculum that offers a young lady (of approximately 7th grade – 9th grade age) a guide for studying and immersing herself in the virtues of femininity, the domestic skills and arts, literature and history of the Victorian Period, Natural History with a particular emphasis on Botany and Victorian naturalists...

I've been thinking a lot about this lately as well. Once upon a time I would've said that my talent was artistic - primarily drawing and painting. I used to spend time every day on creative endeavors and when the children were younger, it was actually a part of my job. Companies would send me their newest art/craft supplies and books (for free!), and every evening we'd spend time creating, just for the fun of it. Now, sadly, art isn't such a big part of our lives and the kids often have to beg me to work on projects with them because I'm most always too busy. Over the years I've looked for other creative outlets, with varying degrees of success. Cooking is one, though not exactly the same. I'll go through cooking "moods" where I'll try out a lot of new recipes and spend a lot of time on it. (Currently I'm in one of those moods, much to the kids' delight!). I think photography is perhaps another potential talent, but overall, I simply don't have time to indulge my talents too much. At the end of the day when there might be time, I often prefer to read (though usually, I'm learning something, so this isn't entirely wasted). I've always thought that one day, when the kids are on out on their own & we've retired, then I'll do all of the creative things that I don't have time to do now.

We have bookshelves all over our house and I've found it easiest to sort books by theme. For our school books, I have one or more shelves for each subject. And on those shelves the books are grouped by type. For example, on my science shelf, all of the inventor biographies are together, as are the geology books, astronomy books, physics books, etc. I have an entire bookshelf for US History and each shelf covers a certain period. I organize my personal books in a similar manner - I have a shelf of British history, another of books about India (including any books set in India), a shelf of saint biographies, a US history shelf, etc. And same for the kids' books - we have a fairy tale shelf, adventure stories, classic literature, British children's literature, mysteries, etc. The books not used as much are kept in my office (though still on shelves). In fact, I just moved all of our books about the ancients and the middle ages in here yesterday since we're starting US History. It's not a foolproof system of course & sometimes I still can't find a book that I'm looking for (or more often, I forget what we have!), but it works better than anything else I've come up with.

In addition to the sites previously mentioned, I *LOVE* Book Closeouts, their prices often can't be beat - especially on "Scratch 'n Dent" books (I've only gotten one with a ripped cover once, the rest have been in great condition). This is my go-to site especially when I'm in the mood for some new books & don't have anything specific in mind (though I've also had luck working from a specific list of books).

We seem to have very similar taste in books (both for the kids and ourselves!), so I thought I'd share some of what I'm adding. I just purchased a bunch of these books for CHEAP at Book Closeouts, so they were on my mind: Building a New Land: African-Americans in Colonial America by James Haskins (1607-1763) DVD: Three Sovereigns for Sarah: A True Story of the Salem Witch Trials* (PBS) (*I haven't previewed this yet but the reviews look excellent) (1692) Betsy Ross: Patriot of Philadelphia by Judith St. George Patriots in Petticoats (Landmark) by Shirley Raye Redmond Growing Up In Slavery: Stories of Young Slaves As Told By Themselves* by Yuval Taylor (*I will read selections from this as it is a bit advanced for younger kids) Abraham Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman (OR The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary) The Tree of Life by Peter Sis (Charles Darwin, 1809-1882) A Voice of Her Own: Becoming Emily Dickinson by Barbara Dana (1830-1876) Louisa: The Life of Louisa May Alcott by Yona McDonough (1832-1888) (OR, Invincible Louisa by Cornelia Meigs) The Trouble Begins at Eight: A Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West by Sid Fleischman (1835-1910) The Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker by Cynthia DeFelice (Medicine, mid-1800s) The Stout-Hearted Seven: Orphaned on the Oregon Trail by Neta Frazier (1840s) (OR On to Oregon! by Honore Morrow, 1848) The Ballad of Lucy Whipple by Karen Cushman (Gold Rush, mid-1800s) By the Great Horn Spoon by Sid Fleischman (Gold Rush, mid-1800s) Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1850s) Fannie in the Kitchen: How Fannie Farmer Invented Recipes with Precise Measurements by Deborah Hopkinson (1857-1915) Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule by Harriette Gillem Robinet (1865) Something Out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium by Carla McClafferty (1867-1934) Childtimes: A Three Generation Memoir by Eloise Greenfield (A memoir of 3 Southern African-American Women, 1880s-1950s) The King of Mulberry Street by Donna Jo Napoli (1892, Immigrant Children) The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate* by Jacqueline Kelly (*It would be helpful to have learned a little about Darwin prior to this) Brooklyn Bridge by Karen Hesse (Early 1900s, New York) Billy Creekmore by Tracey Porter (Early 1900s, W VA Coal Mining) January 1905 by Katharine Boling (Child Labor) (OR Counting on Grace by Elizabeth Winthrop) A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama by Laura Amy Schlitz (Early 1900s, Spiritualism, Orphans) Bread and Roses, Too by Katherine Paterson (1912) With Courage and Cloth: Winning the Fight for the Women's Right to Vote by Ann Bausum (1906-1920) After the Dancing Days by Margaret Rostkowski (WWI, 1914-1918) The Great Migration: An American Story by Jacob Lawrence (1916-1919) Journey to Ellis Island by Carol Bierman (1922) A Family Apart (Orphan Train Adventures) by Joan Lowery Nixon (1860) Orphan Train Rider: One Boy's True Story by Andrea Warren (1926) (OR We Rode the Orphan Trains by Andrea Warren) DVD: American Experience: The Orphan Trains (PBS) (1854-1929) Moonshiner's Son by Carolyn Reeder (Prohibition, 1920-1933) Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace (1898-1899) The Truth About Sparrows by Marian Hale (Great Depression) Nothing to Fear by Jackie French Koller (Great Depression) Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse (1930s) Children of the Dustbowl by Jerry Stanley (1930s) The Dust Bowl Through the Lens by Martin Sandler (1930s) A Day of Pleasure: Stories of a Boy Growing Up in Warsaw by Isaac Bashevis Singer (Pre-WWII) The Upstairs Room by Johanna Reiss (Holocaust)

I would second the recommendation for Rod & Staff, it really is an excellent, thorough & easy-to-use program.

I do medical billing and work from home, bringing in $1500-2000.+/month depending on the hours I work. I usually only work 5-6 hours a day, but my boss would prefer that I work 7-8 so I'm trying to make that happen (very hard while HS!). I probably don't have to work, at least, DH makes enough so that I shouldn't have to, but it has never really been discussed. I was a single mom for years prior to marrying DH, so I'm used to working and enjoy the extra income. My money pays for pretty much all of our homeschooling books/supplies, my books, clothes/makeup, "frivolous" things for the house, etc.

I've been struggling with this very dilemma over the past few weeks, having only just learned how much my kids LOVE lapbooks. We've tried saving Fridays for a project day & that honestly didn't go so well as, after awhile, it's feels more like work than fun to have to do so much coloring/cutting/assembling all in one day. So, what's been working for us is to do a little bit of work on our lapbooks/notebooks each day. Granted it takes MUCH longer to get a lapbook finished, but I believe the end results will be nicer and they'll retain more since they're not scrambling to cram everything into one day.

My kids have been watching it for who-knows-how-many-years & I think it's pretty harmless, though certainly not the best television programming ever. I wouldn't hesitate to let a younger child watch it either. Only 2 of my kids are still obsessed (DS 12 & DD 10) & they no longer collect the cards, but have to have every new Pokemon Wii or DS game that comes out. A word of warning, the games seem to come out often!

All I can say is WOW - that has got to be the most amazing plan EVER! I'm a very visual person, so I especially love the way you've included the book covers. This is going to be very helpful, thank you SO much for all your hard work!

We're having warm weather too & it's really messing me up. Fall is my favorite time of year, but this year it doesn't feel like fall much at all, so I'm not into it like I would normally be. That's a bummer because I had such plans and they've largely been forgotten. I haven't thought about Thanksgiving yet either and cannot believe that Christmas is nearly right around the corner! I hope we get some cold weather soon.

In addition to some of the above, this year we're reading from Thanksgiving: An American Holiday by Robert Haven Schauffler (also available here; printed and bound copies can be purchased here). Also, Thank You, Sarah (The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving) by Laurie Halse Anderson.

My daughter (who's 10) has read the whole series. I credit the books for rekindling her love of reading. The problem, now that she's read all of the available books, has been finding something that she loves equally.

In most subjects we work four days a week, though I sometimes schedule math on the fifth day and we do religion and grammar daily. Fridays are then our fun day - for art and music appreciation and special projects, plus any catch up work that needs to be done. It works out very well for us most of the time.

Try Stabilo markers - we use them and love them, they're not as expensive & they last forever (supposedly they can even be kept for weeks without a cap on & they won't dry out). We have both the 88 Fineliner pens and the 68 Pens, which are slightly fatter. Both are excellent and could be purchased within your budget. They also have something called Power Max markers which we haven't tried. Amazon currently has the fine point pens on sale - a 20 pack for $10.81 and the Power Max pens in a 30 pack for $15.43.

Thank you both! And Lori, thank you SO much for reminding me about Walk the World's Rim - I will definitely be adding this to our reading!

Is the The King's Fifth by Scott O'Dell okay as a read aloud for a 5th & 6th grader? I've seen it mostly on 7th & 8th grade book lists, so wasn't sure. Is it a good book & would it be enjoyable to a slightly younger student? Otherwise, can anyone recommend another good book for our brief upcoming unit on explorers? We've got all of our non-fiction books picked out, but I'm having a hard time coming up with another good (preferably not focused on one specific explorer) read aloud. Thank you!

Here are two of our favorites: The Crafty Crow Incredible Art Department

The book is wonderful in a very different sort of way. The show adds a lot that isn't in the book, but the book is really, really lovely. I read the books prior to watching the show, however, so that may have influenced my feelings. Flora Thompson's other books are quite worthwhile as well. In fact, I have an extra copy of "The Illustrated Lark Rise to Candleford" (the first book of the trilogy) and "The Illustrated Still Glides the Stream" by Flora Thompson. If anyone would like one or both books, PM me & I'll be happy to send it/them to you.

:iagree: I purchased Season 3 from Amazon UK several months ago because I could NOT wait for it to arrive in the U.S.. I'm eagerly awaiting Season 4!

These books are very popular at our house too.